Bunkered without bankers, golf club looks to pokies

Machine men . . . pokies players may have to pay more in club membership fees if the takings on the machines are taxed without compensation. Photo: Dean Sewell

The electronic jingles from 13 poker machines drown out the locals' chatter and the sound of Queen's Bohemian Rhapsody on the radio.

But members of the Bexley Golf Club know that the machines with money in their voice are the lifeblood of struggling clubs such as theirs.

"I don't like them, but that's not to say I don't play them," says Ross Bailey, a member for 15 years.

In a move to contain the row between the State Gov-ernment and Clubs NSW, the Treasurer, Michael Egan, is negotiating with the Federal Government to compensate clubs for the GST on pokies revenue by paying them up to $18,000 a year for the first $200,000 made from pokies.

For Bexley Golf Club, which last year earned $200,969 in pokie revenue, the deal could mean the difference between membership fees remaining stable, or rising by at least 50 per cent.

The general manager, Michelle Vernon, says: "We're not a posh golf club; we're a working person's golf club, and the majority of our club members are ordinary Australians, retired and pensioners. If our yearly subscription is raised, more than half our members probably wouldn't be able to afford to pay."

Mr Bailey's teammates, Eugene Thomas, Neville Tucker and "John" say they would not be able to renew their $550 membership fees if they were raised. And it is retired pensioners such as themselves that keep the club going during the week.

"Things have changed,' Mr Bailey says. "It used to be bank managers that played on Wednesdays, but they don't come and play any more. Are there any bank managers left now?"